Omega Labyrinth Z has been banned from sale in Australia

Member

Forgive me if this seems redundant; I originally posted this news in the old localization announcement thread from couple months ago, but after some consideration I felt it was important enough to receive its own thread as the idea of banning games is of greater importance than those people would would have interest in the game itself in my opinion.

Reason: Games 1(a)&(b)The computer game is classified RC in accordance with the National Classification Code, Computer Games Table, 1. (a) as computer games that "depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they should not be classified," and (b) "describe or depict in a way that is likely to cause offence to a reasonable adult, a person who is, or appears to be, a child under 18 (whether the person is engaged in sexual activity or not)."

One of PQube's previous games, Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkhunhi , suffered a similar fate, making this the 2nd game by PQube to be banned from sale there. Its also worth noting that another game by them, Gal Gun: Double Peace, was pulled from sale at EB Games there previously.
Note that this banning doesn't ban one from owning the game, but just sellers from selling it there.

Neo Member

I've never understood why games are banned. If the content is questionable or only suitable for a certain age, slap an adult age rating and cautionary warnings. I'm an adult, I should have the choice to decide if I want to consume this sort of content. For teenagers and younger children, that responsibility then falls down to the parent.

Exactly the same sentiment for censored games as well. I want to play the game as originally intended, not with parts removed or heavily modified.

Banned

And this 'a person who is, or appears to be, a child under 18' is just too hilarious/sad. Basically telling adult young-looking women that anybody who likes you is a pedophile.

Just one day, people/governments will learn the ability to differ between fiction and reality. Until then, a busty anime-girl with an arbitrarily attached age-number needs to be treated the same way as real child porn.

Member

Thats Australia... So it is not really surprising. They are fucked up.

Australia's 'small breast' ban

Australia's government is "banning" adult publications and films featuring women with "small breasts," says Aussie activist Fiona Patten, on the grounds that such images encourage pedophilia. Patton, leader of the anti-censorship Australian Sex Party, is taking issue with a 2005 ruling which specified that even depictions of women who are over 18 but "appear to be" underage may be judged "illegal." Is this alleged practice a strategic way to fight child pornography, or — as Patten maintains — an absurd reaction to a perfectly normal female body type?

Member

Member

I can't confirm this yet, but it is highly likely the game is now banned in the UK as well.
Some customers are reporting that some UK-based online stores such as "shopto" and "365games" are removing store pages for the game and customers who preordered it are reporting that they're receiving emails from the stores that their preorders were cancelled due to the game being banned in the UK. In addition to this, Steiner, a translator at PQube, recently posted this on Twitter. His username prior to this post was "Omega Steiner". As such, there's a good chance that the game is indeed banned in the UK.

Before anyone does, I wouldn't throw up your arms in frustration just yet. Wait until this is confirmed. But it is looking to be very likely.

95% of these games would pass now if resubmitted with the R18 rating. I'll be honest I've never heard of Omega and watching that trailer didn't reveal anything it would likely be banned for. Is there pedophile under linings or what? Any clips of the absolute worst of it?

Neo Member

Edit: okay googled the game holy shit lol. Though I've definitely seen someone stream some really pervy anime game on PS4 like this,... Just bump up the age of characters? Pretty sure that often happens when anime stuff goes west, presumably as a result of the lower age of consent in Asia? Not sure.

Member

Member

95% of these games would pass now if resubmitted with the R18 rating. I'll be honest I've never heard of Omega and watching that trailer didn't reveal anything it would likely be banned for. Is there pedophile under linings or what? Any clips of the absolute worst of it?

The short answer to your question/explanation according to them is that it has the usual rubbing minigames a lot of these fanservicey games have been having lately, and that there is at least one character who appears to be underage. The VSC fears that such content would normalize said behavior in the minds of impressionable younger people. The specific reasons for its banning are here. (they have a lot to say about it)
I'm not going to post clips here because while this place is much more relaxed in terms of content, I think anything that NSFW might still be a bit much. You can go digging around for gameplay footage if you want though.

RIP
So much for that.
I'm worried that these sorts of bannings will discourage PQube from persuing other heavily fanservicy titles such as Bullet Girls. I've been begging for a release of Bullet Girls 2 in particular for ages.

Member

And people wonder why there are companies that create English versions and just have you import them at this point. This censorship/babysitting by governmental bodies is just silly. Thankfully import fees from sites like Play-Asia are not too expensive.

Member

This game isn't pornographic...
To answer your question though, porn is nice and all but one can appreciate titillation without feeling the need to actually utilize porn. Plus sometimes a tease leaving some room to the imagination is more attractive than actual full on porn. The thing is, games like this or Senran Kagura or Dead or Alive or Gal Gun etc. are enjoyable not just because of the titillation but are simply more enjoyable because the titillation is there. Like you're getting to enjoy your boobs alongside your roguelike gameplay. Having one or the other isn't as fun as having both at once.

I really like Mystery Dungeon games and this seems to have that sort of gameplay. I'm also a sicker for ecchi. This game fulfills both of those criteria. It's satisfying to explore dungeons and take advantage of your loot to help you progress.

Member

I just watched the trailer for the Valkyrie game, and, well, if that's what you're into, good luck with that. I'm not really familiar with anime and genre tropes, but I think it's entirely appropriate to remove the ages from the game for the Western version, among other minor changes. As for the censorship, as an outsider looking in on the genre, it does look extremely suspect and perhaps crosses a line, in terms of the overt sexualisation of characters that could pass for children. It's dubious enough to raise an eyebrow.